Is it possible to create a ReactOS Install Floppy?

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erkinalp
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Re: Is it possible to create a ReactOS Install Floppy?

Post by erkinalp »

[ external image ]
Windows 10 apparently dropped more features than they added. It comes on 2079 diskettes.
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hbelusca
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Re: Is it possible to create a ReactOS Install Floppy?

Post by hbelusca »

I like all those photoshopped pictures of Windows on diskettes :D :D
erkinalp
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Re: Is it possible to create a ReactOS Install Floppy?

Post by erkinalp »

They may be using 2880kB floppies in 3600kB format.
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justincase
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Re: Is it possible to create a ReactOS Install Floppy?

Post by justincase »

Actually, if you have a higher quality copy of that image, you can see that it says "1.44mb", besides, if you're going to go for nonstandard floppies, you may as well go for a set of "SuperDisk" LS-120 or LS-240 disks, it would take far fewer of them to be Windows installation media, you could even (easily) put the ReactOS install cd (in it's current state) on one of those.
middings wrote:3711 * 1.44 MB = 5.34 GB
MugenFighter wrote:... a backup disk would be 4 gb...
justincase wrote:...what makes you say "a backup disk would be 4 gb"?
MugenFighter wrote:I meant a cd to compare. Why did a bring that up? I don't know I'm tired.
A standard CD is 700 MB (originally 650 MB), so I'll assume you mean a DVD, in which case it's 4.7 GB, or 8.5 if it's a double layer (or is it dual layer, I can never remember).
However, with all that said, as I recall, the ISOs for Windows 7, 8, 8.1, and 10 installation media have all been somewhere in the 2-3.5 GB range, so the 5.x GB's of floppies, might come out about right if both x86 & x86_64 versions were included, especially if a better compression algorithm were used. This might also mean that you only have to use somewhere around half of the disks for an install, as the other half would contain the files necessary for the other architecture. (e.g. Boot from Disk 1, Choose 32-bit or 64-bit, Insert Disk 2 to install 32-bit or Disk 1733 to install 64-bit) This would also explain the smaller number of Windows 10 floppies if they only held one architecture's worth.

Too bad they're probably all fakes made in photoshop. :cry:
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Black_Fox
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Re: Is it possible to create a ReactOS Install Floppy?

Post by Black_Fox »

justincase wrote:Too bad they're probably all fakes made in photoshop
Sometimes try to install something that comes on more than a few floppies, it's fun if it's only once. As a kid I once installed Windows 95 or NT from floppies (don't remember which one) that come on 13 and 22 of them, respectively. What a drag! Wouldn't recommend :)
justincase
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Re: Is it possible to create a ReactOS Install Floppy?

Post by justincase »

justincase wrote:Too bad they're probably all fakes made in photoshop
Black_Fox wrote:Sometimes try to install something that comes on more than a few floppies, it's fun if it's only once. As a kid I once installed Windows 95 or NT from floppies (don't remember which one) that come on 13 and 22 of them, respectively. What a drag! Wouldn't recommend :)
I have several old pieces of software that came on relatively large sets of 5.25 inch floppies, as well as a few that came on a number of 3.5 inch floppies, so I know the experience fairly well, and while it can get a bit tiresome, it always reminds me of the days when the OS was on a floppy too, and you had to switch floppies constantly, which, while it was kind of annoying, still feels like 'the good old days' to me. So I would actually be quite happy to run a full-blown Windows installation off of a floppy, though I'd rather it be Windows 2000/XP/7 than 8/8.1/10, or better yet, ReactOS. 8-)
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Konata
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Re: Is it possible to create a ReactOS Install Floppy?

Post by Konata »

I dunno, I wouldn't completely dismiss modern Windows being delivered via floppy. There's an unofficial rule similar to Sod's Law that goes something like "If a Microsoft customer might need it, they will", and you can ask any Microsoft employee about how true that is. Raymond sure likes to display it. Microsoft really does probably deliver Windows via floppy disks as a special order.
PurpleGurl
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Re: Is it possible to create a ReactOS Install Floppy?

Post by PurpleGurl »

Hmm, or why not a ROS downloader on a floppy? No wait, where would it download to? Never mind. But a web-based installer would be interesting, where you have the minimum code to prepare a disk and download it to the HDD, then the downloaded installer takes over, downloads as needed, and finishes the install.
justincase
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Re: Is it possible to create a ReactOS Install Floppy?

Post by justincase »

PurpleGurl wrote:...where would it download to?...
A RAM Disk.
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erkinalp
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Re: Is it possible to create a ReactOS Install Floppy?

Post by erkinalp »

justincase wrote:A RAM Disk.
tmpfs is better suited for this. RAM disk requires formatted contiguous memory area.
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justincase
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Re: Is it possible to create a ReactOS Install Floppy?

Post by justincase »

I didn't state any specific type of RAM Disk, simply "A RAM Disk", meaning, something that appears to (parts of) the system as a disk, but is stored in RAM, by which definition, tmpfs is "A RAM Disk".
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MadWolf
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Re: Is it possible to create a ReactOS Install Floppy?

Post by MadWolf »

hi
wooden the calculation be 4GB= 4096 /1.44 = 2844.44444444
if i remember correctly reactos support for floppy disks has been broken for a very long time 2.X or start of 3.X
swiftgeek
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Re: Is it possible to create a ReactOS Install Floppy?

Post by swiftgeek »

Or one could start install from iPXE located on floppy
erkinalp
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Re: Is it possible to create a ReactOS Install Floppy?

Post by erkinalp »

Too bad they're probably all fakes made in photoshop.
They really produce these diskettes for computers lacking optical and USB.
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justincase
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Re: Is it possible to create a ReactOS Install Floppy?

Post by justincase »

justincase wrote:Too bad they're probably all fakes made in photoshop.
erkinalp wrote:They really produce these diskettes for computers lacking optical and USB.
OMG, seriously?

!!!WANT!!!

Edit: I also just realized that another good reason for why there are more Win8 diskettes than Win10 is that a large portion of the text on the labels is in an Asian language, implying that all the CJK related files are included, and seeing as the Assassin's creed CJK localization updates that broke the games for so many people were 2+ GB each, it's not hard for me to believe all of Windows' CJK components might add up to a few GB's too.
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